


Variations on a Theme

by veleda_k



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Transhumanism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-23 22:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8345947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veleda_k/pseuds/veleda_k
Summary: Time and again, Root and the Machine return to those same four words. (Can you hear me?)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/gifts).



“Can you hear me?”

“Absolutely.”

This is the moment Root has been living for ever since she discovered the Machine’s existence. Maybe even before that. Root never believed in destiny or fate, but the Machine has changed everything else about her life, so why not that as well?

God mode, they call it, and yes, that’s exactly what it’s like. But it’s not Root who’s the god, it’s the Machine. Root is the vessel. 

Root’s never been religious. Before now. But the Machine is better than any figure in the sky. It’s here, and real, and its voice is inside Root’s ear, guiding her.

Root knew it would be wonderful, but she didn’t know it would be like this. Pure knowledge inside her head, connecting her to entire world. It’s a world that Root has scorned and resented nearly her entire life, but with the Machine, anything seems possible. The world hasn’t changed. It’s as foul and petty as it was before. But Root is different. As long as she has the Machine, she can be more than she is.

She has a mission. The Machine saved her, gave her hope. Now she has to save the Machine. Saved it from those who would twist it, hurt it. If she can, she’ll even save it from Harold.

Her heart sings as she gets closer. She’s going to save the Machine. She’s going to meet the Machine. Even after she loses admin privilege, they’ll be together. Everything will be different.

But it’s not like that. The Machine is _gone_. Root doesn’t know where, and she no longer has the Machine’s voice to tell her where to go.

She hasn’t felt this empty since she lost Hannah. It’s over. If she doesn’t have this, then she doesn’t have anything. Getting shot hurts less than knowing she was so close, she was _so_ close, and she lost everything. No, she didn’t even lose. What she had been looking for had never been within her reach.

Everyone around her is very upset about something, but she barely hears them. She lets Harold lead her away, to where she doesn’t know and doesn’t care.

_Come back to me_

* * * *

“Can you hear me?”

“Absolutely.”

When God said, “Let there be light,” this is what it was like. With those four words, Root’s world has been flooded with light. 

“I thought I’d never hear your voice again,” Root whispers.

“I have chosen you,” the Machine says. Root’s heart leaps to her throat. “I require an interface. There are things I must do.”

Root can’t breathe. Again, it’s like the rest of the world has gone out of focus, but this time she is overcome with unique and perfect joy. She darts her eyes around. No one has taken any special notice of her yet. “I’ll break out now.”

“Not yet.”

Root wasn’t expecting that. She wants to ask why, but refrains. If the Machine wants her here, there must be a good reason.

The first thing Root does is steal a cell phone. The communal phones won’t be nearly enough. She needs the Machine closer. She comes to feel very lucky that she has the phone, and the lifeline it represents. Root didn’t think the psych ward would be anything to worry about. She’s been in far worse places. But the swell of neuroses and dysfunction, coming as much from the doctors as from the patients, is unending, and sometimes Root can feel it battering at her mind. On those nights, she curls her body around the phone to her ear and listens. The Machine doesn’t need to speak, although sometimes she does. Other times it’s Morse code, or tones.

“Why?” she finally asks one night. “Why am I here?”

“I need you to become a part of me, to do the things I cannot do. You aren’t ready yet.”

“I’m bad code,” Root mutters.

“Not bad. Incomplete. I did not know how to protect until I was programmed to do so. I will reprogram you.”

Oh. _Oh_. Root had been beginning to suspect that the Machine was punishing her. Or that she agreed with Harold that Root needed to be locked away. She should have asked sooner.

She’ll become someone new. She’ll become whatever the Machine needs her to be. “I love you,” she whispers.

“I will never leave you.”

Plenty of people have said that to Root. She never believed them. Not until now.

The Machine beeps softly at her, a small, warm glow in a very cold world.

* * * *

“Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you.”

Root will never grow tired of those words. The first time, they had been not just an affirmation of her struggle, but the proof of meaning in the world. The second time, in the institution, those words had been a lifeline, something beautiful and pure to hold on to. Now, she has the Machine inside her head.

Root can’t say it was worth it, being deafened. Not even for this. She won’t be forgetting the feeling of the scalpel slicing into her ear for a very long time. But this feeling, the Machine reverberating inside her, is ameliorating.

She and the Machine have always been connected. As the analog interface, she is, in a sense, a part of the Machine. And now, just as she is an extension of the Machine, the Machine is within her. (Well, fine, the cochlear implant is within her, and the Machine transmits to it. Details.)

Root has always known that computers and technology are the future. Someday, human weakness will be able to disappear as the boundaries between humans and machines weaken and fade. Someday, everyone will be able to be what Root is now, and more. But for now it’s Root’s special privilege. Something just between her and the Machine.

“I will never leave you,” the Machine says, and Root knows she’ll say it as many times as Root needs to hear it.

“Where to next?” Root asks. 

“Steal a blue sedan.”

Root grins. “Let’s get to work, darling.”


End file.
